At That Exact Moment (2017)

At That Exact Moment
A new exhibition by Angela Garrick
Kudos Gallery, July 4-25, 2017.
Opening July 4 5-7pm

At that exact moment, a new exhibition by Angela Garrick, seeks to excavate the intricacies of both personal and public memory through the mirror of the contemporary event. After a research period in which the artist has collected a selection of responses from the public, the resulting exhibition will present a collection of written and verbal accounts detailing personal recollections and remembrances regarding two celebrity deaths.

At that exact moment will examine concepts of social archeology, excavating a sense of cultural personal correlation, family communication, generational difference and the role of the media in contemporary society. We see an evolution of modes of communication, processes of remembrance, and the uses of technology to disseminate information between the two dates mentioned.

The complex network of lived experience – senses of self, space and time all exist in a fragile balance. This work will examine the functionality of personal memory and its correlation into public time and space, utilising the history and significance of popular culture. Combining literary senses of historical narrative, personal oratory, and a selection of small objects related to the events mentioned, one can glean a certain picture of not only the pre-internet media cycle but also the state of the world on November 22 in 1963 and on 31st of August 1997. We find that examining notable events enacts a freeze frame for those who were alive at that time promoting discussion and interest regarding authenticity, memory and media history.

Angela Garrick’s ongoing interest as an artist lies in creating installations where the content is created by the viewers. This has been explored in several previous works; Weather Vent, which looked at garnering weather complaints from citizens of Australia. Oops I Did it; eliciting vocal performances from those who chose to participate in the work, and Pay No Attention which sought to draw a narcissistic vocal performance from viewers whom image would correspond with the amount of volume of voice omitted. With these instances in mind the artist works as facilitator or archivist, ‘framing’ events as conceptual practice – with aim of setting up a ‘service’ as artwork and the content of these works were composed from contributions and interaction from the public.

At That Exact Moment continues the artist’s project of establishing situations that examine at the nature of public engagement and authenticity, collective and personal memories and how they coalesce with media and cultural history. Through these continued research and practical experiments, the artist will move towards questioning and revealing notions of ‘unofficial’ and ‘official’ public knowledge and dissemination of information, especially from prior to the pre-24 hour news cycle and pre-internet era.